Friday, October 16, 2009

fruits of labor:chicken pot pie

nothing better on a crisp, rainy or otherwise fall night than a homemade chicken pot pie. here is one thats easy and a great way to use up leftovers, perhaps from that sunday roast chicken, which is what i did.

1 chicken breast plus about 1 cup of minced chicken. i was able to acquire about this much after i boiled down the left over chicken to make stock.

3 medium carrots, peeled and cut on the biased into 1/4" rounds

2 stocks of celery, cut into 1/4" slices

3 small/medium potatoes peeled and cut into bite sized pieces. potatoes should be about palm sized to start.

1/2 cup of frozen pearl onions

1/2 cup of frozen peas

1 large cooking onion

1 clove of garlic

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

2 cups of 2% milk at room temperature

2 tbsp of cooking sherry or Bermuda pepper sherry

1 sprig of rosemary minced as finely as possible

7-9 sprigs of fresh thyme

1/3 cup fresh chopped flat leaf parsley

one premade pie crust (i used pillsbury store-bought crusts)

salt and pepper

preheat oven to 375

begin by boiling potatoes until they are just fork tender, when they are remove them from boiling water with a slotted spoon and add celery and carrots to boiling water. boil until they are just tender and remove from boiling water. discard water.

while the veggies are boiling - begin to make your white sauce. dice large onion and one clove of garlic and minced rosemary and gently saute over low heat in the 4 tbsp of butter until the onions are soft and translucent. once onions are done slowly whisk in the flour a little bit at a time until it is all combined. you may need to add a tsp of milk or so towards the end to avoid clumping. whisk continually and cook the rue until the flour taste is cooked out, approx 4 minutes. once the flour taste is gone begin to slowly whisk in the milk until it is all combined. once all of the milk is added stir in your chopped parsley and thyme (hold sprigs between thumb and forefinger and slide leaved off into the sauce) and cooking sherry - continue cooking over low heat until the milk is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon (at least 10min) - do not boil. season with salt and pepper to taste. once sauce has thickened fold in minced chicken, potatoes, carrots, celery, peas and pearl onions. stir to combine making sure all items are well coated and mixed in with the sauce. transfer mixture into an ovenproof dish.

on a floured surface roll out the dough - from the center towards the edges until it is desired thickness (i prefer the crust to be thinner) and make sure it will cover your dish leaving at least a 1/2 around all sides. if the dough is more than 1/2 inch on each side trim around with a knife until desired width. then roll dough up and under itself just at the edge of dish. place index and middle finger on the edge of the dish and push dough with opposite index finger toward the other two fingers to make a nice little skirt around the edge of the dish. brush a bit of milk on the top of the dough. it will help it get nice and brown

cook at 375 for approx 35 minutes or until the top is brown and the filling is bubbly.